Snowmobiling is a popular winter activity in cold climates. The steering of snowmobiles is conventionally accomplished by a pair of ground engageable skis which are mounted on the front of the snowmobile and are turned in the direction in which the snowmobile is to be propelled. Conventional ski runners merely slide along the surface of the snow without “digging in”. This makes the snowmobile difficult to control in icy conditions, especially at high speeds, which greatly increases the danger of injury or death.
In order to increase the control of snowmobiles in icy conditions, ski runners have been developed that include carbide runners or skegs on the underside thereof, having sharp carbide wear rails that cut or bite into the hardened surface to positively control the turning of the snowmobile. Unfortunately, these ski runners lose their effectiveness once the carbide wear rails become dulled, rendering them as dangerous as conventional skis in icy conditions. Thus, either the carbide wear rails (skegs), or the entire ski needs to be replaced.
In order to reduce the cost and inconvenience of ski runners having integral carbide rails, removable wear bars have been developed that may be attached to conventional ski runners to produce the same results. Examples of such wear bars are those sold by International Engineering & Manufacturing, Inc., of Hope, Mich., under the trademark “WOODY'S”. One such wear bar is shown in FIGS. 4A & 4B and includes two sharpened carbide wear rails that are permanently installed within steel skegs. These wear bars are attached to the bottom surface of conventional skis and are removed when the carbide wear rails become dull and replaced with new ski runners. Once they become dull, these wear bars currently need to be discarded.
The need to replace skis or wear bars having dulled carbide wear rails has significant disadvantages. The cost of both ski runners and wear bars is significant, with a set of wear bars typically costing $120.00 or more. In addition, it is common for snowmobilers to spend multiple days touring on their machines. Thus, unless the snowmobiler packs a spare set of wear bars, there is a significant risk that they will be riding with dangerously dulled carbide wear rails by the end of their trip.
Therefore, there is a need for a way to maintain a sharp carbide wear rail on a ski or a wear bar that does not require that the wear rail or rail bar be replaced and that allows a user to sharpen the wear rail in the field.